“I played for the Valley Bulldogs this summer,” she said. “It was a bit scary coming back from my knee, but I play for fun and things seem to have worked out fine.”
After having her year of eligibility restored, Mackenzie is now a fourth-year student in her third year of CIS eligibility. By Oct. 4, she had already helped lead the first-place Axewomen to a 4-0 record, with 279 points scored and just 39 allowed.
She’s had seven tries and one conversion in four games for 37 points, third in the conference in scoring. Her two tries in a 32-29 win over CIS #1-ranked St. F.X. Sept. 27 in Antigonish earned her AUS and CIS Female Player of the Week honours.
‘Building towards being something’
The Peterborough, ON native arrived at Acadia in the fall of 2012.
“I knew I wanted to leave Ontario to go to school. It came down to here and St. F.X.,” she said.
“I came here on a recruiting trip and had lots of fun. I wanted to be part of a team that was building towards being something, and that was what made up my mind.”
It was the right choice, she says.
“I have no regrets. I love it here, I love Wolfville and I love Nova Scotia,” Mackenzie added.
In Mackenzie’s first year at Acadia, St. F.X. still had its Team Canada’ roster and “blew us out of the water.”
In her second year, Acadia opened the season with a 44-13 win at St. F.X. and advanced to the AUS final before falling to the X-Women 19-12 in overtime.
Without Mackenzie last season, Acadia again reached the conference final in Wolfville, but again lost to St. F.X. by the same 19-12 score, again in overtime.
Despite being unable to play last season, Mackenzie nonetheless felt she was part of the team.
“It’s nice to be on a team that supports its players like this one does,” she said. “I could have felt kind of alone last year, but my teammates rallied around me.”
Mackenzie, who did not require knee surgery, trained hard throughout the off-season - “which in rugby is most of the year,” she adds - to get herself ready for this fall.
“I could pay rent at the Sports Therapy Clinic. They know me really well,” she kids. All the therapists, including the student therapists, “are so valuable, for all the varsity teams.”
Team player
Mackenzie has played rugby since Grade 9.
“You could only play one sport at our high school, and I was going to play basketball, but the rugby coach was one of my elementary school teachers. He asked me to come out, and I loved it from the start,” she says.
Mackenzie has played a lot of positions since coming to Acadia.
“I played forward my entire rugby life until I came here, and (head coach Matt Durant) put me on the wing – my first time as a back.”
So far this season, she has played #10 (fly half), #13 (outside centre) and #15 (fullback).
Durant has had the luxury of playing Mackenzie at fullback “because Jill Bergsma, a younger player, has stepped up to play fly half and has been really great,” Mackenzie says.
A big key to Acadia’s success has been “players like Jill, and Danielle Wisen, who haven’t gotten that much playing time in the past and are now key players. It’s nice to have a deep roster, because injuries happen in rugby.”
The deep commitment of all players is key, Mackenzie says.
“Everyone the team is so committed, whether they’re starting or not. Matt has taken this program from zero to 100 over the last couple of years. It speaks to his skill as a recruiter, and also as a coach,” she adds.
Mackenzie loves rugby because of its camaraderie. She is not only friends with all her teammates at Acadia, “I have friends on all the other teams, too. They’re opponents on the field, and it often gets competitive and heated, but you can keep the friendships.”
The Axewomen, she says, are “very, very positive” this year.
“We know we can compete with X, and we know if we put in the work, and stay positive as a team, the results will come. We’re making a point of having fun and staying positive,” she says.
On a pre-season tour of Ontario, Acadia got a taste of the competition there.
“Ottawa is excellent. We lost to them, right off the bus, but we know we can do better.”
First things first, though.
“The immediate goal is winning our first AUS title,” she says.
Mackenzie is studying psychology, aiming toward a B.Sc. degree, and will be eligible to graduate in the spring of 2016.
“I’d love to do a fifth year, but I’ve applied to the Canadian Forces. If they offer me a job, it would be hard to turn that down,” she said.
If that career path doesn’t materialize, “I’d like to come back. I have two years of eligibility left, and I don’t want my life to move too quickly.”
She has applied to be a medical technician – “like a paramedic” – in the military, “with the goal of maybe someday becoming a search and rescue technician.”
For now, she is immersed in school and rugby, and is also part of the Acadia women’s hockey club.
“Between school, sports and holding down a job, it keeps me pretty busy.”
“I played for the Valley Bulldogs this summer,” she said. “It was a bit scary coming back from my knee, but I play for fun and things seem to have worked out fine.”
After having her year of eligibility restored, Mackenzie is now a fourth-year student in her third year of CIS eligibility. By Oct. 4, she had already helped lead the first-place Axewomen to a 4-0 record, with 279 points scored and just 39 allowed.
She’s had seven tries and one conversion in four games for 37 points, third in the conference in scoring. Her two tries in a 32-29 win over CIS #1-ranked St. F.X. Sept. 27 in Antigonish earned her AUS and CIS Female Player of the Week honours.
‘Building towards being something’
The Peterborough, ON native arrived at Acadia in the fall of 2012.
“I knew I wanted to leave Ontario to go to school. It came down to here and St. F.X.,” she said.
“I came here on a recruiting trip and had lots of fun. I wanted to be part of a team that was building towards being something, and that was what made up my mind.”
It was the right choice, she says.
“I have no regrets. I love it here, I love Wolfville and I love Nova Scotia,” Mackenzie added.
In Mackenzie’s first year at Acadia, St. F.X. still had its Team Canada’ roster and “blew us out of the water.”
In her second year, Acadia opened the season with a 44-13 win at St. F.X. and advanced to the AUS final before falling to the X-Women 19-12 in overtime.
Without Mackenzie last season, Acadia again reached the conference final in Wolfville, but again lost to St. F.X. by the same 19-12 score, again in overtime.
Despite being unable to play last season, Mackenzie nonetheless felt she was part of the team.
“It’s nice to be on a team that supports its players like this one does,” she said. “I could have felt kind of alone last year, but my teammates rallied around me.”
Mackenzie, who did not require knee surgery, trained hard throughout the off-season - “which in rugby is most of the year,” she adds - to get herself ready for this fall.
“I could pay rent at the Sports Therapy Clinic. They know me really well,” she kids. All the therapists, including the student therapists, “are so valuable, for all the varsity teams.”
Team player
Mackenzie has played rugby since Grade 9.
“You could only play one sport at our high school, and I was going to play basketball, but the rugby coach was one of my elementary school teachers. He asked me to come out, and I loved it from the start,” she says.
Mackenzie has played a lot of positions since coming to Acadia.
“I played forward my entire rugby life until I came here, and (head coach Matt Durant) put me on the wing – my first time as a back.”
So far this season, she has played #10 (fly half), #13 (outside centre) and #15 (fullback).
Durant has had the luxury of playing Mackenzie at fullback “because Jill Bergsma, a younger player, has stepped up to play fly half and has been really great,” Mackenzie says.
A big key to Acadia’s success has been “players like Jill, and Danielle Wisen, who haven’t gotten that much playing time in the past and are now key players. It’s nice to have a deep roster, because injuries happen in rugby.”
The deep commitment of all players is key, Mackenzie says.
“Everyone the team is so committed, whether they’re starting or not. Matt has taken this program from zero to 100 over the last couple of years. It speaks to his skill as a recruiter, and also as a coach,” she adds.
Mackenzie loves rugby because of its camaraderie. She is not only friends with all her teammates at Acadia, “I have friends on all the other teams, too. They’re opponents on the field, and it often gets competitive and heated, but you can keep the friendships.”
The Axewomen, she says, are “very, very positive” this year.
“We know we can compete with X, and we know if we put in the work, and stay positive as a team, the results will come. We’re making a point of having fun and staying positive,” she says.
On a pre-season tour of Ontario, Acadia got a taste of the competition there.
“Ottawa is excellent. We lost to them, right off the bus, but we know we can do better.”
First things first, though.
“The immediate goal is winning our first AUS title,” she says.
Mackenzie is studying psychology, aiming toward a B.Sc. degree, and will be eligible to graduate in the spring of 2016.
“I’d love to do a fifth year, but I’ve applied to the Canadian Forces. If they offer me a job, it would be hard to turn that down,” she said.
If that career path doesn’t materialize, “I’d like to come back. I have two years of eligibility left, and I don’t want my life to move too quickly.”
She has applied to be a medical technician – “like a paramedic” – in the military, “with the goal of maybe someday becoming a search and rescue technician.”
For now, she is immersed in school and rugby, and is also part of the Acadia women’s hockey club.
“Between school, sports and holding down a job, it keeps me pretty busy.”
